Husqvarna 900 breaks cover
The first spy photos of the Husqvarna 900 street bike undergoing urban testing in Munich have emerged, and it's a compact model
It seems that all major motorcycle launches nowadays begin with a promotional campaign several months before an official unveiling, and the latest chapter in the Husqvarna street bike's teaser campaign is here, thanks to a few 'official' spy photos.
The motorcycle you see in these three images is one of the prototype bikes undergoing testing, complete with extra wiring looms and data logging equipment.
Though no further details have been forthcoming from Husqvarna, the email we received referred to the motorcycle as the Husqvarna 900.
Will this be its name?
From what we can tell the design of the first ever Husqvarna street bike appears to mirror that of the sketches that were released last week, and though the BMW-owned company has used greyed-out camouflage on the body panels, it seems as though the design is staying true to the initial drawings.
Even the exhaust pipe, diminutive front wheel and compact wheelbase have been carried over from concept sketch to reality, and the end result could be a very agile, very light 900cc supermono.
The engine for the new Husqvarna street bike is based on the BMW F 800 R unit, an 800cc twin-cylinder engine, but Husqvarna has seen fit to expand the engine's capacity to 900cc by boring out the cylinders to create an "outstanding" top end.
Other additions to the BMW-built water-cooled powerplant will include a new exhaust, new airbox and a retuned ECU, all of which are claimed to result in an engine that is "linear and smooth at low rpm, but strong and outstanding at high revs".
Peak power and torque for the engine are still being kept a secret by Husqvarna, but based on the fact that the 800cc BMW parallel twin outputs 86hp (64kW) at 8000rpm and 86Nm of torque at 6000rpm, the new mill could achieve 100hp and torque could also hit the magic triple digit number.
As Husqvarna works ever closer with BMW Motorrad to develop its first ever street bike, expect the engine to make its way into other models down the track, as the cost of development for an engine is far more expensive than a chassis and there's a very good chance Husqvarna will churn out other street models, particularly if this model is deemed a successful product for the brand.
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